Newsletter Number 90

June 2020 June 2020 BSO Newsletter 90 2

BSO Meetings and Field Trips June 2020 - October 2020

Due to Covid-19, all field trips are postponed until further notice. Talks will be held via zoom while physical meetings are inappropriate. Please check our website closer to the scheduled event times and watch out for email updates.

10th June, 5.20 pm: Sexy Lichens. Speaker: Dr Allison Knight, Research Associate, Department of Botany. The lichen symbiosis is extraordinary, intertwining organisms from two or even 3 distantly related kingdoms. Lichenised fungi are extremophiles, capable of living in environments well beyond the range of vascular . Some can even survive days or years exposed to the vacuum, radiation and temperature extremes of outer space! Intriguingly, lichens are very sensitive indicators of air pollution and can also be useful indicators of climate change. On the lighter side, the Sexy Pavement Lichen grows on the asphalt outside the Botany Department, and covers footpaths and roads all over New Zealand. It has been exploited by the unscrupulous, enticed the gullible and recently caused a global media frenzy. To be held via zoom.

8th July, 5:20 pm: Silken harp chords and the green choir. Speaker: James Crofts-Bennett, Department of Botany. The mutualistic relationship between the kingdom and the arachnid order Araneae is remarkable both in nature and how often it is over looked. There is extensive literary coverage on spider abundance and diversity in relation to vegetation texture diversity. So extensive is the research that beyond mere ecological significance, the relationship between spiders and plants has been adapted into agricultural practices! This talk will explore the theory, supporting evidence, then finally practical applications of exploiting this relationship. Research sites range from the William James building green roof to Orokonui ecosanctuary, grassy meadows to glorious podocarp forest and furtive fern villages! Descriptions of tiny tarsal claws guaranteed to make your skin crawl and close encounters with Aciphylla sure to incite sympathetic cringing! Come one, come all and behold the union of silken harp chords and the green choir!

11th July, 9:00 am: Field trip to Tavora Reserve, North Otago. Tavora is a coastal reserve near Palmerston managed by the Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust. Over more than 20 years the Trust has transformed the previously marram covered dunes into a showcase of pingao with many associated threatened species including shore spurge, Cooks scurvy grass and sand tussock. This is augmented with advanced riparian planting alongside the stream leading to the dunes. The reserve also has natural populations of the uncommon Aciphylla subflabellata, Lepidium tenuicaule, and Tupeia antarctica mistletoe hemi-parasitic on ribbonwood trees. We'll do an easy walking circuit of the reserve that takes in all the highlights. Meet at Botany Department carpark at 9am. Contact John Barkla (03 476 3686) [email protected]

12th Aug 5:20 pm: Members night. Members are invited to bring items of botanical interest to the monthly meeting and talk about them. Items may be short slide shows, books, photographs, plants or any plant related object that has a story attached.

15th August, 9:00 am: Trotters Gorge Exploration. If you are like me, then you’ve driven past the sign post for Trotters Gorge more times than you can count and thought “I really must stop one day for look”. So now is your chance! There are a couple of different environments we will explore, with tracks winding up through kanuka forest to the drier ridgelines and then down into broadleaf forest around the June 2020 BSO Newsletter 90 3 creek. For those who can look past the trees, there are caves (with weta potential) and sea views to be enjoyed. If you would like to come exploring, meet at Botany Department carpark at 9am. Contact Gretchen Brownstein 021 065 8497 or [email protected].

16th September, 6pm. Geoff Baylis lecture: Name changes among New Zealand ferns: the good, the bad, and the ugly? Taxonomists often claim they receive insufficient support for their task of describing the world’s biodiversity. But are they their own worst enemies? Their taxonomic outputs often attract the ire of their intended users because of the changes they prescribe to scientific names. We’ve still much to learn about the evolutionary history of life, so some taxonomic change is presumably allowable. But how much change is appropriate, and who decides? Fern and lycophyte is currently in a particularly pronounced flux. For instance, the scheme prescribed by the international Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group would have New Zealand with no species of Blechnum, Cyathea, Lycopodiella, Lycopodium, and Trichomanes (changes to c. 20% of the local fern and lycophyte flora!). I’ll discuss my objections to this, given my personal opinion that it is important to minimise taxonomic changes while maintaining a taxonomy that still reflects evolutionary relationships (i.e., monophyly). I’ll include examples of new and renamed species, and lumped and split fern and lycophyte genera, alongside some relevant examples from among New Zealand’s flowering plants. You can decide what’s good, bad, or ugly.

Biography: Leon Perrie is a Curator of Botany at Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. His research is focused on the taxonomy and evolutionary history of New Zealand’s ferns and lycophytes, and he has co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications. A current priority is supporting the completion of the fern and lycophyte chapters for the electronic Flora of New Zealand. He also works with Pacific ferns, especially those of , and he occasionally dabbles with flowering plants (e.g., Pseudopanax, Schoenus, Sophora). He was the lead science curator for Te Papa’s recent revamp of its principal natural history exhibition: Te Taiao Nature.

19th September, 9:00 am: Field trip to Karitane. Karitane is a site of both historical and natural significance, and much work is being done by Kāti Huirapa Rūnaka ki Puketeraki to restore the riparian and coastal habitat. Further details of the trip still to be confirmed. Meet at Botany Dept carpark at 9am. Contact Angela Brandt ([email protected]).

14th October, 5:20 pm: A search for the co-evolutionary partner(s) of New Zealand’s sequestrate fungi. Speaker: Dr Toni Atkinson. New Zealand has long been known as a “land of birds”. The idea that the array of sequestrate fungi found here, many of which are colourful, may have arisen through coevolution with birds was first mooted in mycology around 20 years ago. It seemed a natural progression from the widely accepted hypothesis that New Zealand’s diverse divaricating plants evolved due to selective pressure from the now extinct moa species. The suggestion appears to have been taken up by mycologists, and is becoming part of the story of science in this land. Last year, an international team using high-throughput sequencing techniques to analyse the DNA in moa coprolites, revealed the first real evidence that moa may have eaten fungi.

But what happens if we take a fresh look at the whole question? Are moa the most likely coevolutionary partners of our sequestrate fungi, out of all the vertebrate and invertebrate inhabitants of prehistoric New Zealand? In this recently humanised but greatly altered land, it is challenging to hold in mind the relationships that might have played out over evolutionary time. What might we have missed? June 2020 BSO Newsletter 90 4

11th November, 5:20 pm: The ‘other half’ of New Zealand’s flora: how distinct are the non-native plants from the native? Speaker: Dr. Angela Brandt, Ecologist, Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research. Non- native species make up about half of New Zealand’s plant species, and those that have naturalised have added 68 families and 650 genera to the New Zealand flora. Non-native plants that are introduced and then naturalise are not a random subset of the global flora, but how distinct are these species from the native flora as a whole? I will give an overview of recent inventories of native and non-native plant species in New Zealand and the challenges involved in documenting the ever-changing composition and distribution of the ‘other half’ of New Zealand’s flora.

Above the trees in . (Photo: Ian Geary)

Meeting details: Talks are usually on Wednesday Field trip details: Field trips leave from Botany car evening starting at 5.20 pm with drinks and nibbles park 464 Great King Street unless otherwise (gold coin donation), unless otherwise advertised. advertised. Meet there to car pool (10c/km/passenger Venue is the Zoology Benham Building, 346 Great to be paid to the driver, please). Please contact the King Street, behind the Zoology car park by the old trip leader before Friday for trips with special Captain Cook Hotel. Please use the main entrance of transport and by Wednesday for full weekend trips. the Benham Building to enter and go to the Benham A hand lens and field guides always add to the Seminar Room, Room 215, located on the second interest. It is the responsibility of each person to stay floor. Please be prompt as we have to hold the door in contact with the group and to bring sufficient food, open. Items of botanical interest for our buy, sell and drink and outdoor gear to cope with changeable share table are always appreciated. When enough weather conditions. Bring appropriate personal people are feeling sociable we go to dinner medication, including anti-histamine for allergies. afterwards: everyone is welcome to join in. The talks Note trip guidelines on the BSO web site: usually finish around 6.30 pm. Keen discussion www.bso.org.nz might continue till 7 pm. Meetings may be held online via zoom while gathering restrictions remain. June 2020 BSO Newsletter 90 5

Contents

BSO Meetings and Field Trips...... 2

Chair’s Notes ...... 6

Secretary’s Notes ...... 6

Treasurer’s Notes ...... 7

Editor’s Notes ...... 7

Correspondence and News ...... 8

John Child Bryophyte and Lichen Workshop 2020 has been cancelled ...... 8 Jubilee Award 2020—Applications sought ...... 9 New Zealand Botanical Society ...... 9

Articles ...... 10

Quantifying patterns of epiphytic bryophytes and lichens in Beech forests ...... 10 Identifying fungi in New Zealand ...... 11 Conserving biodiversity as well as species ...... 14 Sexy Car Lichens ...... 18

Meeting and Trip Reports ...... 21

Weekend Field Trip to Invercargill, 21st-23rd February 2020 ...... 21 New Caledonia: a Botanist’s Paradise, a talk by Peter Johnson, 11th March 2020 ...... 23 John Child Bryophyte Workshop 2019 ...... 25 AGM and photo competition, 13th May 2020 ...... 27

Committee and BSO contacts ...... 30

BSO Membership Form 2020 ...... 31

Cover: Artwork by James Crofts-Bennett. Scanning iNaturalist for interesting flowers revealed an apparently naturalised Gloriosa superba in the North Island. Fascinated by the crown of fire and definitely not looking for an easier model after failing to replicate the colours of a Clianthus puniceus, I generated this flower OC

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Chair’s Notes Committee – A big thanks to the dedicated committee! They do a wonderful job! A shout out to Gretchen Brownstein Angela Brandt for her stellar work as secretary. Mary Anne Miller continues to do a wonderful job keeping Well after a reasonably typical 2019, the start of the accounts in order. A big thanks to Robyn Bridges 2020 has turned our world upside down. The for looking after the membership and room bookings. COVID-19 pandemic means our ‘new normal’ Allison and John Knight took charge of providing the includes staying in our bubble and keeping to our yummy nibbles and drinks at the meetings. And to neighbourhood. While this has caused disruptions for John Barkla for producing the stunning botanical the BotSoc events, it has also helped us rethink how calendar. Thanks to Lydia Turley for not only doing we run talks, including exploring the use of e- a great job editing the newsletter, but keeping our meetings and webinars. The positive flow on effects website and Facebook page up to date. Sadly for us, of this are reducing our carbon footprint and Esther Dale has resigned from the committee as she expanding our potential audiences. So, while it’s is moving to Europe (as soon as travel is allowed been a rough start to 2020, there are some positive again). Esther is the scientific and artistic brain outcomes. behind the botanical pun badges and fridge magnets. We wish her best of luck on her next adventures. Trips and talks – While COVID-19 put a kibosh on Also, Tina Summerfield and Sarah Kilduff have trips in the last six weeks, we did successfully run decided not to stand for the committee again, thank eight talks and eight trips last year. Our botanical you to both of them for their great contributions. And talks ranged the from geological to the artistic, from many, many thanks for all the hard work the rest of fungi to restoration and even ventured into the the committee puts in: David Lyttle, Ian Geary, animal world. The trips were just as diverse, with the David Orlovich, and Sharon Jones. Fungal Foray to Knights Bush, and the Catlins weekend trip as the ever-popular highlights in the And lastly, a big thank you to you, our members!! year. The committee works hard to develop a Through members’ participation we all have a programme that we think will be of interest the chance to share and learn botanical knowledge. Also, membership. It was great to see so many people by engaging with the community through our society participating, as it is about getting together to learn we can promote the wonderful world of plants. So and share botanical knowledge. thank you for a great year and here’s hoping for a positive 2020! Membership – This year there are 74 paid members (up seven from last year), which is wonderful to see. Secretary’s Notes A big thank you to Robyn, Mary Anne, and Angela for working on getting the membership database up Angela Brandt to date and chasing late payments on the annual subs. I find myself wondering how the past year could Newsletter – A very big thank you to our editor have gone so quickly, but I am happy to be able to Lydia for doing a sterling job pulling together the continue serving the BSO as Secretary. It’s been newsletter. We produced three volumes of the wonderful connecting with all of you via both email newsletter this past year. These had a total of 99 exchanges and in person. At this particularly pages, including 15 original articles contributed by challenging time, it’s heartening that we’ve still been our members along with numerous reports on the able to connect as much as we have and use trips and talks held during the year. Lynn Taylor technology to share our love of botany (such as via contributed the cover art for volume 86 marking the the City Nature Challenge and StayiNatHome th 250 anniversary of Solander’s visit to New Zealand projects on iNaturalist) and gather together virtually and Sharon Jones provided the lovely cover art for for our AGM and annual photo competition. Thanks volume 88. Inside are numerous botanical photos to those who contributed photos and to all of you for contributed by our talented members. being willing to try out a new system for voting for the People’s Choice Award and joining in a virtual June 2020 BSO Newsletter 90 7 meeting. Our strong sense of community will Treasurer’s Notes certainly carry us through this! Mary Anne Miller

It was a great start to the year as a record number Statement of Receipts and Payments signed up for membership. By the end of March Botanical Society of Otago, PO Box 6214, Dunedin there were 70 paying members compared to 64 for North 9059 the same date in 2019. Thanks for your support. CC24010 Following on from the last Peter Bannister Student For the year ended 31 March 2020 Field Grant Fund report in our October 2019 Operating receipts $ Newsletter, recipient Zoe Lunniss had an article in the Otago Daily Times of 18 May 2020, where she Subscriptions 2215 calls for action to conserve Tupeia Antarctica around Calendar sales 1810 Dunedin. It was good to see her project getting Lichen Guide sales 481 public recognition. Magnet sales 37 The presented statements are a summary of the last Badge sales 15 financial year, and were submitted in our annual Donations 629 report to the Charities Commission. Interest 4 TOTAL 5191 Editor’s Notes

Lydia Turley Operating payments $ It’s been a strange few months. We had to cancel our Calendar printing 1575 March trip, and next moment the whole country was Newsletter printing 642 in lockdown. While many of us are itching to get Speaker gifts 126 back out into the bush and looking at plants, this has Baylis lecture 596 been a good chance to slow down and take a look at Meeting expenses 222 what is growing in our own back yards, including Photo competition prizes 400 many plants that are often overlooked. JCBLW grants 200 We’ve got a paucity of trip and talk reports in this Administration 335 newsletter, but people have really pulled through TOTAL 4096 with some cool articles (thanks guys!), so we’ve got some exciting reading for anyone (everyone) missing their plant fix. If you find yourself stuck at home and Operating surplus $1095 getting bored, I encourage you to write about your favourite planty thing and send it in for publication Capital receipts $ in the next newsletter. Interest 177 Suggestions and material for the newsletter are From Everyday account 183 always welcome from our members. If you are keen TOTAL 360 to submit stories, drawings, reviews, opinions, articles, photos or letters – or anything else you think Cash in hand $15 might be of botanical interest to our diverse range of members, don’t hesitate to get in touch. Send your

feedback, comments or contributions to Increase in Bank Accounts and Cash $1156 [email protected]. Copy for the next

June 2020 BSO Newsletter 90 8 newsletter is due on 10 October 2020. Earlier Editor’s guidelines: Try to aim for a 0.5–1 page of submissions are most welcome. 14 pt. Times for news, trip/meeting reports and book reviews and 1–5 pages, including illustrations, for Disclaimer: The views published in this newsletter other articles. Electronic submission by email to reflect the views of the individual authors and are not [email protected] is preferred. Send photos necessarily the views of the Botanical Society of as separate files and remember to include photo Otago. captions and credits.

Statement of Financial Position Botanical Society of Otago, PO Box 6214, Dunedin North 9059 CC24010 For the year ended 31 March 2020

2020 ($) 2019 ($) CAPITAL Current Assets Everyday Account 6,868 6,451 Audrey Eagle Publishing Account 12,186 11,641 Business Online Saver Account 5703 5699 Accounts receivable 0 75 Inventory – publications, badges, magnets 337 72 Petty Cash 15 15 Current Liabilities Sundry payables 0 0

Working Capital 25,109 23,953

Membership General 62 57 Student 8 7 Total paying members 70 64 Life members 2 2 Complimentary newsletters – libraries & allied societies 25 25 Newsletters distributed including electronic versions 97 91

Correspondence and News New Members A warm welcome is extended to Hannah Creary, John Child Bryophyte and Lichen Wen Qing Ng, Don Robertson, Aidan Braid and Workshop 2020 has been cancelled Taylor Davies-Colley. To our existing members, thank you for your continuing support. It has been proposed that the 2021 workshop be held at the same Rotorua location – good things come to those who wait! June 2020 BSO Newsletter 90 9

Jubilee Award 2020—Applications Award recipients, the value of the Award(s), and a sought synopsis of the project(s) will be published in the Annual Report of Wellington Botanical Society. The Wellington Botanical Society invites applications for an Award of up to $2,600 to encourage and assist applicants to increase New Zealand Botanical Society knowledge of New Zealand’s indigenous flora, and to commemorate the Society’s Jubilee in 1989. The NZBS was established in 1985 following discussions amongst many people on the need for Purpose of the award: The Award is open to anyone better communication amongst botanists. A very working in New Zealand. It will be granted for: genuine and widespread interest in what colleagues fieldwork; artistic endeavour; publication; research; around the country are doing exists and the propagation or cultivation of NZ native plants for publication of a educational purposes and/or other studies which quarterly Newsletter promote the better understanding of NZ’s indigenous has consistently been flora and vegetation. The interpretation of these seen by the conditions will be flexible, except that the main membership as the criterion will be the furtherance of knowledge or principal purpose of the promotion of the intrinsic value of NZ’s indigenous Society. flora and vegetation. The Award may be used to defray costs such as travel, accommodation, The NZBS Newsletter materials or publication. publishes contributions under the following headings- News; People; Appointments; Events; Applications for the Award: Applications should be Regional Botanical Societies; University made in typescript to: Secretary, Wellington Departments; Other Botanical research Botanical Society, PO Box 10 412, Wellington 6143, establishments; Notes and Reports; Current or by e-mail to [email protected], by 6 Research; New Plant Records; Fieldwork; September 2020. There is no prescribed application Phenology; Short articles; Announcements; form, but the following must be provided: Desiderata; Forthcoming meetings and conferences; 1. The applicant’s name, Meeting/Conference reviews; Theses in botanical 2. Postal address, telephone number and e-mail science; Book Reviews; and Letters to the Editor. address. The cover features a different plant portrait each 3. Any relevant position held quarter. 4. A summary statement of the applicant’s We welcome new members. Subscriptions for 2020 accomplishments in the field of botany—no more are $25, students $12. A full set of back issues is than one page available. Please send payment with complete name 5. An outline and timetable for the proposed project and address to for which the Award is sought 6. A proposed budget for the project The Secretary/Treasurer, NZBS, c/o Canterbury Museum Selection: The Award will be made to one or more Rolleston Avenue applicants selected by a subcommittee nominated by Christchurch the general committee of Wellington Botanical 8013 Society. Award(s) will be made and applicants informed of the results in writing, by 6 October 2020. Successful applicants will be required to provide, at an agreed time, a short report on what they have achieved, and an account of their expenditure of Award funds. The names of the

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Articles by the many beech scale insects (Ultracoelostoma assimile) which infect the Quantifying patterns of epiphytic beech trees. Beech scale insects parasitise the bryophytes and lichens in Beech forests phloem of all New Zealand beech species with the exception of Silver beech. The absence in Tom Dawes beech scale insect infection on silver beech is likely due to some difference in bark chemistry. As a student studying epiphyte ecology, I am Furthermore, even though it is in the same acutely aware that much of my work focuses on family, silver beech is more distantly related to vascular plants. Two of the most important the other beech species than they are to one groups which grow as epiphytes are lichens and another. Regardless of the underlying bryophytes – the mosses and liverworts. Hence, mechanisms, the pattern in the epiphyte I’ve endeavoured to bring a case study on these communities is especially interesting from the underappreciated non-vascular plants (including perspective of an epiphyte ecologist. There are lichens) into my thesis on epiphytes. The right very few examples of structurally-similar, idea came from my supervisor’s field course to evolutionarily-related, co-occurring tree species Nelson Lakes National Park, an outstanding area hosting vastly different epiphyte communities of great quality beech forest. and biomass.

Around , in Nelson Lakes National The geography around our Nelson Lakes site Park, beech forests dominate the ecosystem, as will hopefully allow me to consider some is typical of many upland areas of extensions to this original idea. The ridge of the New Zealand. The mid-elevational forests here Saint Arnaud Range rises above eastern flank of contain three of the five New Zealand beech Lake Rotoiti and has more or less continuous species – red beech (Fuscospora fusca), beech forest up to the treeline. It may be mountain beech (Fuscospora cliffortioides) and interesting to ask how epiphyte communities silver beech (Lophozonia menziesii). These three change up the elevational gradient, especially beech species have vastly different coverages of where they are abundant on silver beech. In sooty moulds which drive very different species other parts of the world epiphytic ferns and richness and abundance of epiphytes. Sooty orchids show a mid-altitudinal richness peak mould, a familiar component of the New where more species occur in the mid-elevation Zealand bush, is a general term for many kinds forests than close to the treeline or in the of black, filamentous, saprophytic fungi that coat lowlands. Do bryophytes and lichens in New the surfaces of plants (in New Zealand primarily Zealand fit such a pattern? represented by the families Euantennariaceae and Metacapnodiaceae). In our system, sooty The core idea is a fascinating but seemingly moulds smother the trunks of red beech and simple piece of ecology. However, challenges mountain beech and epiphytes are few and far remain in scientifically quantifying this pattern, between. Whilst on silver beech, which is which is important in communicating this story scarcely affected by sooty mould, epiphytic in the scientific community. The main difficulty mosses, liverworts and lichens grow profusely. behind quantifying this pattern is the tricky Hence, because of this sooty mould host identification of many of the bryophyte and specificity, closely related tree species with lichen epiphytes. Separating these taxa often similar branching architecture host very different relies on microscopic evaluation, as well as epiphyte species richness. This presence of sooty many years of field experience, which I certainly mould is due to the copious honeydew released don’t have. However, New Zealand has the most June 2020 BSO Newsletter 90 11 amazing community of experts and enthusiasts Wellington Botanical Society who have who share their wisdom via the wonderful provided a student grant to support this work. medium of the John Child Bryophyte and Lichen workshop. Attending the 2019 Southland workshop in November allowed me to start Identifying fungi in New Zealand building identification skills and introduce the key groups and common species of macrolichens Jerry Cooper and mosses I may encounter as low-trunk (Reprinted from iNaturalist) epiphytes in New Zealand’s forests. Crucially it made my strategy and aims of identifying some First up some statistics to put the problem into of my Nelson Lakes epiphytes to and perspective. Most fungi in New Zealand have quantifying the generic level richness a realistic not been described, do not have names, and so proposal. Working with genera and cannot be identified as species on iNaturalist. morphospecies within these genera can be a Numbers of fungi in New Zealand vitally important tool for ecologists dealing with taxonomically challenging groups. Hopefully, by A conservative and widely used global estimate spring I hope to apply these newfound skills and indicates there are six fungal species for every gather the required data to quantify my Nelson vascular plant species on earth. In New Zealand Lakes case study once we are all released from the vascular plants are relatively well-known, our covid-19 bubbles! and we have about 2,200 indigenous species. We can therefore estimate there are at least 13,000 One of the key take-aways is just how much species of indigenous fungi. The number of these inconspicuous, hard-to-identify elements introduced and naturalised plants is about 2,500 of our flora deserve so much more than a second and many will have specific associated look. Bryophytes and lichens exhibit astonishing introduced fungi, and in addition there are many diversity and greatly contribute to the species thousands more introduced plants in cultivation richness of our ecosystems. Finally, the New which may harbor yet more plant-specific fungi. Zealand bush is far more unique than we often We have not estimated the total numbers of appreciate, with even humble sooty moulds and introduced fungi associated with introduced epiphytes displaying interesting ecological plants, but it will be very significant. To date we patterns. have described about 6,000 native fungal species Acknowledgments and catalogued around 2,000 species that were clearly introduced. To summarize, we have I would like to express my gratitude to everyone described less than half of our total number at the John Child Bryophyte and Lichen species of indigenous fungi and that is likely to Workshop who made it such an enjoyable six be a significant underestimate. Many of these days, in which I learnt so many things and was undescribed indigenous fungi will be small, able to give a talk on these ideas. Special thanks inconspicuous forms. to Angela Brandt and the whole organising committee who did such a great job, as well as For the larger forms (mainly basidiomycete - all the experts who taught me so much, agarics, brackets and so on, but excluding the especially Allison Knight and her amazing ascomycete lichens) we have described about lichen expertise! Thanks also go to the Botanical 2,000 indigenous species and we know about a Society of Otago who contributed to my cost of significant number of introduced species, mainly attending the John Child Workshop and to in urban/agricultural/ modified habitats. DNA data from environmental samples together with June 2020 BSO Newsletter 90 12 sequence ‘barcode’ data on known species casual phone-camera snap of a mushroom and support the estimate that less than half of our upload to iNaturalist and sometimes it will be a indigenous species have been described, even distinct species we can identify, and it may be a though this group is conspicuous. New Zealand useful record telling us something about has never committed adequate resources to the occurrence and changes in distribution. Most of professional effort required to describe them. the time however it is better to ‘walk on by’, However, in recent years we have documented especially if you are a beginner trying to learn. around 1,000 of these undescribed species, in the sense that we have sequenced collections and we What should I photograph? know what they look like. The task of formally As I’ve said, reliably identifying most fungi describing these species is significant so they from photographs is difficult but there are things won’t have proper names any time soon. that increase the probability of correct iNaturalist will only accept published names and identification. Photos are needed in their habitat, so many of the species can be recognised but not not taken home and put on a plate. Photos are named on iNaturalist. needed showing ALL the relevant features close- To summarize, we have an estimated 4,000 up and with a good colour balance, lighting and species of larger fungi that people are likely to focus, and some sense of scale. We need to see see and photograph in natural habitats. 2,000 of the cap, stem, gills, the way the gills are attached those species have names and another 1,000 are to the stem, the stem base, any ring, and the way known but undescribed. it is attached to the substrate. Remove it with a Urban/agricultural/modified habitats are fixed blade knife so we can see an intact stem dominated by fewer introduced species (most of base. Removing a fruitbody to photograph these the records on iNat fall into this category). Of details will not affect the population. The fungus our indigenous species, over 70% of our species will have already released millions of spores and are endemic, known only from New Zealand, the fruitbody is just the 'apple on the tree'. The with the remaining indigenous species shared body of the fungus is the hyphae running with Australia, less often Asia or South America through the soil and is unaffected by removing a and elsewhere. The urban introduced fungi are few fruitbodies and turning them upside down mainly from Europe, Australia and much fewer (and leaving them there). from North America. When you flick through a Field notes guide-book or website to track down your observation just keep these facts in mind. The photos are just one aspect of recording. You should make notes about the substrate (soil, Which fungi should I photograph when I’m wood on a living tree, dead wood etc). The out? texture of the fungus - tough, fragile, crumbly Please resist the temptation to photograph etc. We need to know the associated species, everything you see because there is little point! guessed if it is a potential ectomycorrhizal You have the best chance of being able to species. We need to know any odour, the taste (a identify something, or getting somebody on iNat small bit on the tongue will not kill you – except to identify something, if you follow a simple maybe the Death Cap – which we do have in rule. Only make records of fungi that look in NZ), any changes to the flesh colour on good condition, where there are a range of exposure to air. Ideally, we need to know the fruitbodies from immature to mature, and where colour of the spores from a spore print. you can get good photos. Sure, you can take a June 2020 BSO Newsletter 90 13

Identifying fungi been described in the past. Often the original descriptions are inadequate or ambiguous or they On iNaturalist I won't offer identifications for don’t recognise the full range of variability. Our any observation where the user has profile understanding is improving rapidly because of settings making observations, or the gene sequencing which allows us to more accompanying photographs, 'All Rights objectively define species concepts and Reserved'. Unfortunately many new iNat users potentially to uncover the full range of have those settings. morphological variability within species. This I also can't offer any good advice on NZ field process of disentangling, refining and improving guides or websites for fungi, not that we have the confusing historical work is ongoing. All this many, because I don't use them. Their accuracy leads to uncertainty in identification and is variable and the coverage necessarily sometimes persistence of incorrect assertions relatively restricted. and ongoing debate. Disagreements may seem confusing, annoying and unhelpful to many. Tracking down the correct identification for a From my perspective it is good science in action, species is often hard work and not just a matter although sometimes frustrating when faced with of comparing a few photos. It is not just the entrenched dogma. problem of the vast numbers. Fungal species are remarkably variable in their appearance If you really want identifications to be as depending on growth conditions and inherent accurate as possible then you will need a high- ‘phenotypic plasticity’. You need to be able to power microscope with an attached camera and recognise the key characters that can be relied some key chemicals like Potassium hydroxide upon. You need to develop familiarity with solution and Melzer's reagent. You will need species in all their forms. It requires years of access to the technical literature (often expensive dedication to become proficient in identifying books or journal articles behind paywalls) and fungi. Most of our fungi cannot be named you will need to develop an understanding of the reliably from photographs alone. We have many large amount of technical jargon. The ultimate superficially similar species that vary only in identification method is gene/genome microscopic characters. sequencing, which is becoming easier and cheaper, but nevertheless requires significant The iNaturalist 'Computer Vision' system is expertise to analyse the data appropriately. remarkable but often fails badly for fungi and Mycology can become a very expensive and should not be trusted. In particular you should demanding hobby. avoid accepting suggestions that don't have 'seen locally' against them. These species are Collections generally found only in the northern hemisphere It is very tempting to make collections of fungi (and often misidentified). Our native species and take them home – perhaps to eat them, make may look similar to these suggestions but they a spore print, do microscopy, make a reference are not the same. collection etc. You should keep in mind that in Definitive identification based only on many situations it is illegal to make such photographs is often impossible. All we can collections. You need written authorisation from provide is varying degrees of probability about it the landowner (including DOC and being this species or that species based on local/regional council/iwi). circumstantial evidence. In New Zealand we also have a problem with the species that have June 2020 BSO Newsletter 90 14

Edibility and meaning for conservation. Since all species are the result of evolution in space and time, the I will generally not respond to questions on conservation of biodiversity is more than the edibility but I will answer questions on toxicity. preservation of objects – it is also about Many people will show allergic reactions to preserving their geography. some fungi whilst others do not. Many fungi cause gastric upset or vomiting whilst others are The science of biogeography has profoundly deadly. When you buy a foodstuff from the changed our understanding of how animal and supermarket you can be sure that health and plant species diverge in geographic space in safety measures have been considered. When response to geological change. These you eat something from the 'wild', especially if developments have important implications for you don't know precisely what it is, you are the conservation of biodiversity, because they playing Russian Roulette. If you do eat highlight a geographic structure for biodiversity something, then make sure you take good that cannot be encapsulated solely by the listing records before you eat it. That will help the and preservation of species. This recognition medics and eventually the coroner. Don't eat was first developed in New Zealand over three anything that isn't in pristine condition. Many decades ago under the conceptual umbrella of fungi and moulds contain some of the most panbiogeography (e.g. Matthews 1989). These carcinogenic substances known (next to studies showed how the evolutionary radioactivity). You will not die tomorrow but differentiation of New Zealand's biota (as just give it a few years. Of course some (very species, genera, families etc.) is closely related few in New Zealand) are good edible species to Mesozoic tectonics and geology. This is and not known to cause problems. Just make consistent with a New Zealand origin for New sure you are absolutely sure you have one of Zealand's biodiversity, in contrast to the them. prevailing view that all endemic species were colonists that originally came from somewhere else – either before geological separation from Conserving biodiversity as well as Gondwana, or more recently by drifting or flying over the surrounding oceans. species The idea that the immediate ancestors of all John Grehan endemics had to have arrived from somewhere If biodiversity were no more than a list of else was formulated into a general theory of species the term would add nothing to our evolution by Charles Darwin. Many species are understanding of the natural world, and allopatric with their relatives – they occupy conservation of biodiversity would be little more different localities. Darwin theorized that than the preservation of species as objects in an allopatry results from a sequence of accidental, outdoor collection. It would not matter whether but often directional, dispersals from a smaller species conservation was achieved by geographic location (centre of origin). Allopatry maintenance of current habitats, or by transfers evolves by movement of organisms, so there is to artificial enclosures (nature preserve, zoo, no necessary relationship between divergence, botanical garden etc.). While artificial distribution, and the Earth’s tectonic structure. maintenance may be the only practical option for But this belief is not supported by the observed some species, it is generally recognized that the correlations between distribution and tectonics. biological and physical structure of the The geographic relationship is consistent with a environment is also something of scientific value process of differentiation in a widespread June 2020 BSO Newsletter 90 15 ancestor disrupted by geological or climatic centred on the McPherson-Macleay Overlap, a events (Craw et al. 1999, Heads 2012a). biogeographic region which marks a distributional boundary and centre of endemism for many taxa. It is tectonically associated with the Mesozoic New England orogeny and the Jurassic-Cretaceous Clarence-Moreton basin. The distribution of ‘C.’ moorei is centred on the Otway-Bass-Gippsland Basin system, located around the Bass Strait of today. This represents a site of major Mesozoic rifting (Heads, 2014). In New Zealand, the distribution of C. talbrockiei lies within the Western Tectonic Province made up of Gondwanan continental crust. The species range extends east only to the geological Fig. 1. Distribution localities of ‘’ talbrockiei in boundary with the Eastern Tectonic Province northwestern South Island of New Zealand. From Heads (made up of Pacific terranes) (Fig. 3). Its (2017b). northern boundary corresponds with the Since all animal and plant species are the result Taranaki metamorphic core complex, and the of geographic divergence, their phylogenetic and southern boundary with the Paparoa geographic relationships reflect their evolution, metamorphic core complex (zones of rapid even if they later undergo range expansion or extension and uplift in the Cretaceous). These contraction. These relationships can be tectonic correlations are consistent with an investigated through biogeographic analysis of original ancestral range that formed a curving distribution and phylogeny. This approach is arc off the eastern coast of Gondwana prior to illustrated here by the distribution of a rare New the tectonic extension that generated the Zealand species, ‘Coprosma’ talbrockiei and its Sea (Heads 2017b). relatives (Heads 2017b, Thureborn et al. 2019). The limited distribution of ‘C.’ talbrockiei in north west Nelson (Fig. 1) may be of conservation interest in terms of species management, but on its own the species provides no information on the phylogenetic and distributional context and its significance for biodiversity. The species belongs to a clade of three species also comprising Durringtonia in eastern central Australia and ‘Coprosma’ moorei of southeastern Australia (Fig. 2). In this phylogenetic pattern ‘C.’ talbrockiei exists as one of three allopatric and disjunct taxa, and its closest evolutionary relationships are not with true Coprosma species in New Zealand.

The individual distributions of ‘C’. talbrockiei and its trans-Tasman relatives are biogeographically significant. Durringtonia is Fig. 2. Tasman clade comprising ‘Coprosma’ talbrockiei in New Zealand, ‘C’ moorei in southeastern Australia and June 2020 BSO Newsletter 90 16

Tasmania, and Durringtonia in eastern Australia. From The Coprosma example is just one among Heads (2017b). hundreds demonstrating that the evolutionary structure of New Zealand’s biodiversity is closely correlated with Mesozoic as well as Cenozoic tectonics (e.g. Heads 2017a). The geological relationship is also consistent with New Zealand endemics originating locally as allopatric members of formerly widespread ancestors that already occupied both New Zealand and other regions. Many molecular studies have proposed young clade-ages, but these estimates are calibrated by fossils, and so they can only provide minimum clade ages – they cannot falsify the older origins predicted from tectonic correlation (Heads 2012b).

Fig. 3. Distribution of ‘Coprosma’ talbrockiei mapped onto Mesozoic tectonic provinces of the northern South Island. Parallel lines – metamorphic core complexes to the south (Paparoa) and north (Taranaki) From Heads (2017b: fig. 5).

There is also a broader tectonic correlation to be made. The ‘C’. talbrockiei group is localized around the Tasman basin, while its close relatives are represented by Normandia only in New Caledonia, and Coprosma s.str. which is widespread between China and across the Pacific to South America (Fig. 4). Overlap among any of the three groups occurs only in southeastern Australia and Nelson, and otherwise the three are completely allopatric. While this allopatry makes no sense in terms of ecology or chance dispersal, it is compatible Fig. 4. Allopatry and overlap between three Coprosma with the vicariance of a widespread ancestor into groups. Red shading – Tasman group (‘C.’ talbrockiei, ‘C.’ moorei, Durringtonia); orange shading – Normandia; three groups. These evolved more or less in situ, green shading – Coprosma s.str. Distribution from Heads and have maintained their distinct distributions, (2017b: fig. 4). apart from some local overlap. The original break among the three is spatially correlated Panbiogeographic evidence supports the view with the extensive Mesozoic volcanism and that Earth and life evolved together, and that intrusion that occurred along the conservation science needs to focus on the Whitsunday/Median Batholith zone. This phylogenetic and biogeographic structure of a igneous belt (preserved in New Zealand and region rather than individual taxa or habitats. Queensland) was broken apart by formation of Distribution maps represent one of the most the Tasman Sea basin (Heads 2017a). valuable forms of documentation about a group for both theoretical and practical purposes, June 2020 BSO Newsletter 90 17 including conservation management (Heads evolutionary structure ('natural order') in the 2017a). The integration of these maps shows that distributions of New Zealand's animal and plant New Zealand's biodiversity and that of the world taxa. This understanding of biodiversity also in general, is made up of a network of shares the Māori concern with understanding the connections between biogeographic boundaries total environment and its connections rather than and centres called nodes. This biogeographic just its parts. In this approach, kaitiakitanga, structure can and should be integrated into a active stewardship or guardianship of the biodiversity Atlas. This would identify the environment, will be greatly enhanced by evolutionary significance of individual localities knowledge of the evolutionary structure of and guide the selection of taxa and habitats that biodiversity, instead of just some parts as an should be protected (Grehan 2000, 2011; Heads artificial collection of objects (species and their 2017a). environmental containers).

The best way of ensuring conservation of the I remain hopeful that conservationists and main aspects of diversity is to protect the conservation scientists will come to recognize biogeographic nodes. But without knowledge the value of biogeographic mapping for and understanding of this evolutionary structure conserving the main aspects of New Zealand's it is not possible to evaluate the impact of biodiversity. It is also my belief that the conservation programs on the structure of panbiogeographic framework will be useful for biodiversity. An example of the potential impact Māori to meet their biodiversity conservation of ignoring biogeography is the translocation of goals. On a positive note for the future, species to new habitats. If applied uncritically, panbiogeographic studies show that a surprising and without awareness of the biodiversity amount of New Zealand’s biodiversity structure structure of a habitat, the introduction of a new remains intact. Even small relics of bush in species not previously known to occur there gullies and on steep land can hold surprising could have highly detrimental impacts. For diversity. The geographic records of biodiversity example, transfer of birds and wetas to islands embedded within the landscapes of New Zealand where they have never been recorded could are waiting to be read. Who will be there to read devastate the structure of invertebrate them? biodiversity on these islands. In cases where the island represents a centre of endemism and an Acknowledgments evolutionarily significant node (e.g. Codfish I am grateful for review of the draft ms from Island) this could result in a critical loss (Heads Michael Heads, Fathima Iftikhar, Julie Knauf, 2017a). These potential impacts show that Karen Mahlfeld, and Lou Sanson. effective biodiversity conservation requires biogeographic analysis and interpretation. References

Awareness of the evolutionary structure of Craw, R.C., Grehan, J.R. & Heads, M.J. 1999. biodiversity should greatly enhance Māori Panbiogeography: tracking the history of Life. Oxford University Press. 229 pp. interest in maintaining a relationship with the natural world and its resources. According to Grehan, J.R. 2000. Atlas of biodiversity: Mapping the Harmsworth & Awatere (2013), the traditional spatial structure of life. Biodiversity 1: 21-24. Māori world view acknowledges a natural order Grehan, J.R. 2011. Introduction to panbiogeography: comprising a dynamic system built around the method and synthesis. In de Carvalho, C.J.B. & Almeida, living and the non-living. This is concordant E.A.B (Eds.) Biogeographia da América do Sul: padrõs & with the panbiogeographic idea of an integrated processos. Roca, São Paulo, pp. 65-98. June 2020 BSO Newsletter 90 18

Harmsworth, G.R & Awatere, S. 2013. Indigenous Māori everything an adventurous lichen needs to grow knowledge and perspectives of ecosystems. In Dymond vigorously. J.R. (Ed.) Ecosystem services in New Zealand – conditions and trends. Manaaki Whenua Press, Lincoln, pp. 284-286.

Heads, M. 2012a. Molecular panbiogeography of the tropics. University of California Press, Berkeley. 562 pp.

Heads, M. 2012b. Bayesian transmogrification of clade divergence dates: a critique. Journal of Biogeography 39: 1749-1756.

Heads, M. 2014. Biogeography of Australasia: A molecular analysis. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 493 pp.

Heads, M. 2017a. Biogeography and evolution in New Zealand. Taylor & Francis, Boca Raton. 636 pp.

Heads, M. 2017b. Metapopulation vicariance in the Pacific genus Coprosma () and its Gondwanan relatives. Australian Systematic Botany 30:422-438.

Matthews, C. (Ed.) 1989. Panbiogeography special issue. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 16 (4): 471-815.

Thureborn, O., Razafimandimbisom, S.G., Wikström, N., Khodabandeh, S.A. & Rydin, C. 2019. Phylogeny of of the coffee family inferred using clock Fig. 1: The Sexy Pavement Lichen (as iNaturalist calls it) and nonclock models. International Journal of Plant Xanthoparmelia scabrosa, being admired on Belinda’s Science 180:386-402. car.

But to start at the beginning, what exactly is a lichen, you might ask. It’s an ancient symbiosis Sexy Car Lichens between a fungus (or two), a green alga and/or a cyanobacterium. Or, as Robyn Bridges likes to Allison Knight tell it to her grandchildren, “Freda Fungus took a Forget the Sexy Footpath Lichen (once June’s fancy to Alex Alga, and they set up house talk is over). The sexy car lichen is much together. Freda built the house to provide shelter cooler. David Lyttle has long been keen for me for Alex, and she also concentrated to come and identify the much admired lichens micronutrients from air and water. When it that Belinda has carefully cultivated on her sexy rained she let sunlight in to provide energy for little Starlet. So one sunny day BL (before Alex to work his photosynthetic magic and Lockdown) I ventured out to their idyllic and provide enough carbohydrates to feed them both. historic lifestyle block on Centre Rd. Such an Around 10% of the time, especially where ideal place for growing lichens on unwashed conditions were damp and shady, Freda shacked cars. Plenty of dust with trace elements to leach up with Cyril Cyanobacterium instead. Cyril out, with agricultural fertiliser floating around could photosynthesize even when the house was and bird droppings to further stimulate growth. sodden wet, and had the added advantage of Add rain and sunshine and you’ve got being able to fix nitrogen from the air. The neighbours were grateful for this extra fertiliser, too. Occasionally Freda invited Cyril to come June 2020 BSO Newsletter 90 19 and live with her and Alex and he lived closed humans, and is happy to return the favour by off in his own little brain-shaped nodule, invading all manner of artificial substrates. Not quaintly called a cephalodium (from Latin only does it spread out over footpaths and along cephalicus = head). Their association had the roadsides, it gleefully decorates glass, metal, best of all worlds, wet or dry, and formed a brick, tile, rubber, aluminium, plastic and more. formidable trio”. On the car it happily grew over glass, rubber and painted metal (see Fig 1). Here’s an addition for more advanced children to explain a fourth partner that has recently been Staid and constrained vascular plants need to put discovered. In the Parmeliaceae, one of the their roots down to attach themselves and to biggest and most successful lichen families, draw up enough nutrients and water to circulate which the sexy pavement lichen belongs to, round their fancy vascular circulatory systems. Freda always invites Fanny fungus to come and Lichens don’t have a vascular system, and rely live with her and Alex. Fanny hides away in the on diffusion, which keeps them small, but tough. ceiling and helps make the outer cortex Because they are self-sufficient and merely need waterproof, and also helps Freda and Alex to perch on the surface they can live on an manufacture all sorts of useful chemicals, amazing number of substrates. Don’t be fooled including a toxin, vulpinic acid (from Latin by the fact that some of them have rooty vulpus = fox), that is potent enough to kill sounding rhizines – these are merely attachment wolves and foxes. Fanny hid away in the ceiling structures. so successfully that for over 150 years lichenologists looking down microscopes failed to find her. While Freda, in over 99% of lichens, is an ascomycete fungus with fruiting bodies more or less shaped like a disc, Fanny is a basidiomycete yeast-like lichen that reproduces asexually by budding. Alex alga only reproduces sexually under exceptional circumstances, if at all. So Freda is still the sexiest and most dominant member of the symbiotic household.

This symbiotic microcosm we call a lichen has its own microbiome, too. Lichens really are miniature ecosystems and are so self-sufficient that all they need to survive they can concentrate from air and water, with light thrown in. Lichens are so resilient that they can survive in extreme ecosystems where no vascular plant dares to go, including in full exposure to outer space – without needing a space suit! Lichens were early colonizers on land and helped make it habitable, just as they are pioneer species on disturbed land Fig 2: Fertile Xanthoparmelia scabrosa with brown disc- now, even pioneering the disturbing artificial shaped fruiting bodies, orange blob at bottom Teloschistes velifer, grey blob Physcia caesia. surfaces of Belinda’s car. Our normally rock- living native Xanthoparmelia scabrosa has So how do you identify a lichen? The cop-out adapted better than most to the invasion of way is to ask me, but the first step is relatively June 2020 BSO Newsletter 90 20 easy. Lichens are arbitrarily divided into 3 main bodies – but we won’t go into all the annoying growth forms, Foliose, Fruticose and Crustose. exceptions here). If you use your imagination Foliose lichens are kind of leaf-like, in that their lobes are generally This brings us to the next sexy bits. Firstly, how flattened and have a distinct upper and lower did the lichens get on the car in the first place? surface. Often they don’t exactly hang free, but They don’t produce seeds, do they? One reason they can usually be detached from the substrate I called the fungal partner Freda is because she using water and a little gentle persuasion. is the only one in the symbiotic relationship that Sometimes the lobes are so narrow and so reproduces sexually. The big brown discs on the closely hugging the substrate that you might Sexy Car/Footpath lichen in Fig 2 are made mistake them for the spreading crust of a entirely of fungal tissue and they release Crustose lichen, like the little grey blob at the microscopic sexual ascospores (because they are bottom of Fig 2. This is actually a foliose made in a sac-like ascus) formed by meiosis. Physcia, P. caesia. The spreading foliose and These spores are so light they can be carried fruticose lichens might, or might not, be considerable distances by the wind, especially protecting the paint from weather. up there on Centre Road where it comes whooshing across the ocean from the Antarctic. Luckily for Belinda she doesn’t appear to have Once a spore settles, which it is more likely to any crustose lichens on her car, because these do in a grainy, dusty nook than on a shiny clean hug the substrate so closely that their fungal surface, the embryonic Freda fungus has to find hyphae actually penetrate the surface a an Alex alga to snuggle up with before they can millimetre or so. This could let water in beneath form a lichen symbiosis. the paint and accelerate rusting and paint flaking. When the earth was young this Vegetative reproduction is much easier. The penetration was extremely beneficial, because fuzz on the surface of the sexy lichen is formed over aeons it helped weather rock and gradually by a mass of projecting vegetative propagules, create soil for vascular plants to inhabit. If you called isidia, which contain both alga and fungus have a ‘strong and enduring as rock’ pebble already snuggled up together, just waiting to be coated roof or wall you wouldn’t want crustose given the chance to form another lichen. Isidia lichens growing on the very appealing pebble are easily detached by wind, water or abrasion habitat, because the lichen is likely to attach to and could easily have been loosened and thrown the pebbles more tightly than the pebbles are up onto the car as Belinda drove over country attached to their substrate, and loosen the lovely roads rich in sexy lichens. Once one ‘rock solid’ veneer. Xanthoparmelia scabrosa took hold it in turn would produce many isidia that could easily start The third main growth form covers the shrubby more identical lichens, and this is what the bulk or Fruticose (from the Latin frutex, meaning of lichens on the car are. The main form of shrubby). The little orange blob of Teloschistes reproduction of the other two lichens in Fig. 2 is velifer at the bottom of Fig. 2. is fruticose. Moira by fluffy little vegetative propagules called Parker thinks that ‘twiggy’ would be a better soredia. Physcia caesia sometimes grows on description than ‘shrubby’ for fruticose lichens, roadsides, though not nearly as profusely as the because they don’t have any ‘leaves’ (except sexy pavement lichen. It also decorates the perhaps some Cladonia, that have a primary spectacularly lichen encrusted rocks in David’s thallus of leaf-like squamules that sometimes wonderful rock garden, so it shouldn’t have been decorate the fruticose stems that hold the fruiting too hard for it to make the leap. Teloschistes velifer is possibly in David’s rock garden, too. It June 2020 BSO Newsletter 90 21 also grows on twigs, so perching birds could Meeting and Trip Reports dislodge soredia, or even carry them in dirt or grooves on their feet. Carriage of vegetative propagules by birds was often invoked to Weekend Field Trip to Invercargill, explain long distance dispersal of lichens (before 21st-23rd February 2020 cars were invented). Carriage of microscopic spores by long distance winds has also been David Lyttle invoked, but that brings in the mystery of how After assembling in Invercargill the group drove the heavier alga ever got there to form a to Bluff where we started the field trip with a partnership visit to Motupohue Scenic Reserve on Bluff Hill. So, lichens are fungi that discovered agriculture The track leaves the carpark above Bluff and that enabled them to live almost anywhere in township and heads down the hill through a the world (millions of years later humans made patch of remnant podocarp/rata forest. Although the same leap forward). But how do you give the forest had been milled in the past the just one scientific binomial name to a complex structure of the forest was largely intact with symbiotic association that reproduces in a many mature podocarps present. Several species recognizable form? Freda fungus gets the nod, of filmy ferns were recorded, including because, like the farm owner, she is genetically Hymenophyllum demissum, Hymenophyllum unique, so the lichen farm is named after her. flabellatum and Hymenophyllum revolutum. The There is less diversity in the photosynthesizing track continued down to the hill striking the algal and cyanobacterial crops, and they can be Stirling Point coastal track where we found a shared among many different fungi. Sometimes, number of plant species once common on the Freda farmer changes crops to suit changing southern coasts but now very restricted to areas climatic conditions, either invisibly, by using that have escaped modification. Numerous different strains of alga, or occasionally herbaceous species including Epilobium dramatically, by kicking out Alex alga and komarovianum, Epilobium pedunculare, bringing in Cyril cyanobacteria, or vice versa. Plantago triandra, and Gentianella saxosa were This can cause problems in the field, and in the observed growing in the damp peaty turfs herbarium, because the lichens associated with alongside the track. Gentianella saxosa is very the two ‘crops’ can look dramatically different common along these southern coasts and often even though the name of the ‘farmer’ has not the entire plant is covered in conspicuous white changed. flowers. Two coastal Myosotis species, Myosotis pygmaea and Myosotis rakiura were also In summary, Belinda’s splendidly decorated car present. Myosotis pygmaea is a tiny, annual illustrates the fact that lichens are complex, species with minute flowers. Myosotis rakiura is resilient and ever fascinating organisms. If perennial with large white flowers but climate change or Covid-19 decimates the unfortunately was not in flower at the time of human population lichens will be the first to our visit. Other plants seen were Leptinella colonise the abandoned cars. You could help traillii subsp. pulchella, a local endemic them on their way by not washing yours! confined to the northern shores of Foveaux Strait (subsp. traillii is found on the southern side of the strait on Stewart Island), Mazus arenarius, Centella uniflora - which was fruiting heavily - and Pimelea prostrata subsp. ventosa, the local Foveaux Strait form of this Pimelea species. In June 2020 BSO Newsletter 90 22 an open ditch draining the track we found a treats in store at the second site we visited. colony of the rare pygmy sundew, Drosera Bowman’s Bush is a site owned by the QEII pygmaea. This plant is considered to be at risk- National Trust. Jesse Bythell who is the local relict under the NZ Threat Classification QEII representative showed us round and System. located a colony of the saprophytic orchid Gastrodia molloyi. After lunch we headed on to Tiwai Peninsula. This is a low shingle spit that separates Awarua The final event of the weekend was a tour of the Bay from Foveaux Strait. This area is accessed Southland Community Nursery which has been from the road to the Tiwai aluminium smelter established by Chris and Brian Rance on their and is normally closed to the public. The area is property at Otatara. In addition to the nursery, sparsely vegetated with low-growing coastal the Rances have set up a Nature Education plants and scattered patches of grey scrub and is Centre for schools and volunteer groups largely unmodified with much of the original involved in ecological restoration projects. We vegetation remaining. The Peninsula is toured the nursery which mainly grows plants interesting in another respect; species that are for restoration projects then moved on to the rare typically found in montane grassland occur at plant collection then headed out round the pond sea level. In addition to two species of Raoulia through the restoration plantings to a delightful, (Raoulia glabra and Raoulia sp) we found relatively new hut built in the outer reaches of Coprosma petriei, more typical of inland the property. See their website montane basins, Mentha cunninghamii, two https://www.southlandcommunitynursery.org.nz species of Leptinella and quite unexpectedly (for /education-centre/ for more information about me anyway) the shrubby Olearia, Olearia their activities. The scope of Chris and Brian’s nummularifolia. Species representative of the activities is awesome and it was a great privilege more usual coastal communities included be able to visit their nursery and be shown Muehlenbeckia axillaris, Selliera radicans, through their own restoration projects. Pimelea prostrata subsp ventosa and the ubiquitous Gentianella saxosa. Finally I would like to thank our Invercargill hosts, Brian and Chis Rance, Jesse Bythell, Dave On Saturday evening we enjoyed the hospitality Toole and Lloyd Esler for their hospitality and of Chris and Brian Rance, a takeaway dinner sharing their botanical knowledge of their region followed by a presentation by Brian and myself with us. on aspects of the botanical fieldwork led by Heidi Meudt and Ant Kusabs from Te Papa that we both had participated in.

On Sunday morning we looked at two further sites in Otatara. The first was the Otatara Scenic Reserve which is a predominantly totara/ podocarp forest on old sand dunes. It also contains kahikatea (Dacrycarpus dacrydiodes) and pokaka (Elaeocarpus hookerianus) as well as the usual mix of lowland broadleaf species. The uncommon Coprosma species Coprosma Participants: Brian Rance, Chris Rance, Ivan pedicellata was one of the more notable plants Lin, Jesse Bythell, Lloyd Esler, Damien Collie, we observed on this site. There were further June 2020 BSO Newsletter 90 23

Neill Simpson, Barbara Simpson, David Lyttle, particular - often quirky fine-scale - aspects of Dave Toole New Caledonia’s land and life.

New Caledonia is 2,384 km north-west of New Zealand in the Tropic of Capricorn. It has a land New Caledonia: a Botanist’s Paradise, area of 18,576 km2 (about the size of Northland). a talk by Peter Johnson, 11th March The main island of Grande Terre has an area of 2020 16,372 km2, and is 400 km long and 50-70 km wide. It is divided along its length by mountain Alex Wearing ranges with the highest point Mt Panie at 1629 For most New Zealanders, New Caledonia is m. New Caledonia is part of the continent of probably associated with images of palm-lined Zealandia. The mantle derived rocks are mostly 1 beaches and diving in tropical seas. Geologists ultramafic peridotite . Weathering of peridotite will be interested in the globally rare presence of has led to formation of red lateritic soils 2 rocks derived from mantle forced to the surface. enriched in nickel, but depleted in calcium . This Ornithologists will be intrigued by the causes vegetation to be stunted over extensive intelligence of the New Caledonia crow (Corvus areas. The lee west coast of Grande Terre has moneduloides), and the enigmatic almost wide dry plains that have been extensively flightless kagu/cagou (Rhynochetus jubatus), the transformed, and the less transformed windward only surviving member of the Rhynochetidae. east coast has rain forest descending to sea level. Botanists can admire the attractions of New The first humans arrived in New Caledonia Caledonia’s indigenous conifers (13 species of about 3,500 years ago. The indigenous people of Araucaria, five species of Agathis, and the New Caledonia are Kanak who are Melanesians. world’s only parasitic conifer, Parasitaxus usta) James Cook was the first European to visit New and Nothofagus (five species). Caledonia in 1774. He bestowed the name New Peter Johnson’s talk was based on two trips to Caledonia because the mountains in the north- 3 New Caledonia. The first was as botanist in a east reminded him of Scotland . 1978 DSIR entomology expedition to make New Caledonia is considered to be the smallest plant collections from areas that were visited for of the world’s significant biodiversity hotspots. insect collecting. The second visit was on a It has about 3,150 indigenous vascular plants holiday in 2019. The talk was more than a (the exact number of species varies from botanical and ecological excursion. There were reference to reference), compared to about 2,500 interesting observations and reflections on a for New Zealand. But New Caledonia has less wide range of topics. The talk was also visually than 10% of New Zealand’s land area. The stimulating. There were superb photographs of difference in diversity probably reflects a plants, landscapes, and cultural features tropical setting, and the geological, geomorphic, (including, but not restricted to, cuisine, graffiti, edaphic, rainfall and altitudinal diversity of and local people). I was intrigued by a Grande Terre. New Caledonia’s indigenous flora photograph of a fruit and vegetable market is about 77% endemic, whereas the New displaying a wide variety of temperate Zealand indigenous flora is about 82% endemic. vegetables such as carrots, courgettes, and For gymnosperms, the numbers of indigenous onions. The photographs were supplemented by gymnosperms are 44 for New Caledonia and 21 watercolours painted during the 2019 visit. for New Zealand. New Caledonia does not seem These were effective at bringing attention to to have experienced many plant extinctions June 2020 BSO Newsletter 90 24 compared to other tropical islands, but desertification, and sedimentation of water environmental transformations have restricted bodies, with deleterious consequences for the ranges and reduced the populations of many indigenous plants. In recent years, much more species, and many plant species are threatened attention has been directed to New Caledonia’s by the possibility of extinction. New Caledonia plants and their conservation. has introduced problem plant species, many associated with cattle grazing systems on cleared The internet has many sites and articles which land and other disturbed sites. persuasively demonstrate the distinctiveness, attractiveness, and significance of the New The sites visited by Peter Johnson in 1978 Caledonia’s plants. Peter Johnson was equally included the Araucaria biramulata – Nothofagus persuasive with his words and images. By the codonandra forests on Mt Dore, the Agathis end of the talk I very much wanted to have the forests of Mt Rembai, and the Nothofagus opportunity to travel to New Caledonia and see baumanniae forest of Mt Mou which had a fern- this botanist’s paradise for myself. rich understory. From the material collected Peter Johnson was able to contribute to a 1979 Notes 4 paper Leaf vernation in Nothofagus . 1 & 2. Mortimer, M. and Campbell, H. (2014). Zealandia: Our Continent Revealed. Penguin, Auckland. Images from the 2019 visit cover a wide range of localities and vegetation types: dense 3. Polynesian migration between the 11th and 18th evergreen rainforest, dry sclerophyllous forest at centuries. British and American whalers visited in the early- to mid-19th century, and there was a mid-19th lower elevations, maquis (ultramafic scrub-like century trade in sandalwood (Santalum). Christian heath mostly in the south), grassy and woody missionaries arrived in the 1840s. France laid claim to savannahs, halophytic vegetation (e.g. New Caledonia in 1853 and established a penal colony in mangroves), and wetlands. Plants depicted 1864. The first Kanak revolt occurred in 1878. Kanaks did th included species native to New Caledonia such not get the right to vote until the mid-20 century. During World War II the number of American soldiers based in as Melaleuca quinquenervia (broad-leaved New Caledonia was comparable to the then resident paperbark), and genera shared with New population. New Caledonia had killings linked to an Zealand such as Weinmannia, Metrosideros, independence movement and a military presence in the Elaeocarpus, Podocarpus, Dodanaea, and late 20th century. New Caledonia is still tied to a distant Dracophyllum. The variety and attractiveness of country, as a ‘special collectivity’ of France. A 2018 referendum on independence was lost. New Caledonia has many wayside flowers was noted. a population of about 270,000 (2019), of which almost two-thirds live in the capital Noumea and its environs. The People have had, and continue to have, a Kanak currently make up about 40% and Europeans about profound effect on the plants and vegetation of 29% of the population. Minerals products and alloys New Caledonia. Traditionally, Kanak considered (mostly nickel) are the main exports. Much of the land is their environment their ‘food safe’ which had to unsuitable for agriculture and a large amount of food is be managed properly in order to provide an imported. Tourism is less developed than in many Pacific nations. ongoing food supply. In many areas, current land-uses and land-use intensity are not 4. Philipson, W. R. and Philipson, M.N. 1979. Leaf sustainable. New Caledonia has many threats to vernation in Nothofagus. New Zealand Journal of Botany, its environment: open-cast mining, deforestation, 17, 3: 417-421. cattle farming, and wildfire. There also problems with introduced animals such as rusa deer (Rusa timorensis). All the aforementioned can lead to substantial erosion, soil loss and depletion June 2020 BSO Newsletter 90 25

John Child Bryophyte Workshop 2019 Although Taringatura Hills have been largely denuded of native plant cover, next to the camp, Penelope Gillette in 14-hectare Taringatura Scenic Reserve, there are remnants of lowland podocarp forest Approximately 40 attendees from all about New surrounded by shrubland and regenerating native Zealand, plus a few from Australia and the bush. This provided a nearby resource for United States, came together to share ideas, workshop studies and recreational wandering. techniques and enthusiasm for the study of Much of the bush surrounding camp appears bryophytes and lichens at an annual six day covered with Muehlenbeckia australis, which I workshop in November. The most recent John like to think of as one of nature’s plaster species Child Bryophyte and Lichen Workshop because under what seems to be impenetrable, (JCBLW 2019) was held at a Central Southland the bush remnant is healing; at Camp location – nestled amongst some of the lesser Taringatura, Pohuehue (M. australis) is known gems of the province, allowing suppressing exotic plants such as hawthorn, participants to explore a rich range of sites elderberry, flowering current and gorse while including alluvial forest flats, hill slope natives including bryophytes and lichens are podocarp forest, hardwood-podocarp forest, thriving in the shaded understorey. beech forest, shrubland, red tussockland and some rock outcroppings. Both bryophytes and Camp Taringatura was originally a church camp, lichens occupy microhabitats, and many but has been opened up to the public to hold specialise in the type of substrate they dwell on events, with a couple who manage the camp, – thus, a richness of sites and diversity of niches living on-site. I stayed in my tent, but there was available to visit during this workshop was plenty of basic accommodation, similar to significant to the potential number of species we Borland Lodge, and thanks to John Steel and found. Liz, the catering this year was superb! Some considered renaming this workshop the JCBL Gourmet Workshop…

The weather was generally fine, with rain at times (e.g. upon arrival) - this was of course Southland! Hot sunny days worked out well for our slow pace while out on field trips (though once in the bush, who really notices the weather?). (Photo: Angela Brandt) In Central Southland, lying between the Hokonui Hills and the Tokanui Hills, The event was held in the camp hall, which was Taringatura lends its name to a hill range, a spacious and well-heated by a wood-burning scenic reserve and the restored church stove. Microscopes supplied by the University of campground at which the workshop was held. Otago and Manaaki Whenua - Landcare June 2020 BSO Newsletter 90 26

Research were set up on tables, so people could using microscopes. Some took a lichen to study specimens collected on the field trips. drawing their collections. Others put their specimens with identifications on the display table set up for reference, viewing, keeping records, and learning.

(Photo: Melissa Hutchison)

The schedule for day 2 was a field trip to Forest Hill preceded by a beginners' introductory session at the fore mentioned Taringatura Scenic Reserve. First we sat in a circle and experts on various subjects were introduced. David Glenny delivered for the liverworts group, Allison Knight led the lichens group and Matt Renner managed the moss group. (Photo: Penelope Gillette) Despite the diversity of their specialities a In the evening we had the Tom Moss Student common need among bryologists, lichenologists Award talk, which is given at each annual and general enthusiasts is SOMETHING to workshop by candidates for a scholarship safely transport specimens collected from the provided by the JCBLW and administered by field… “With great earnestness, we sought to Wellington Botanical Society. Candidates apply match the experts’ exact folds in the A4 sheets with an abstract to present at the workshop, and that would become our specimen envelopes. the judges will discuss who should be awarded Each fold had a sensibly explained reason which the scholarship. There was only one candidate played a role in keeping our precious findings in this time, but Tom Dawes gave an excellent good condition. A gasp of wonder then escaped presentation on his past and present research our lips when the second expert made some from hornwort evolution to epiphytic deviation from the first design, again backing the communities and sooty mould on beech trees. modification with very sound reasoning. When the third expert, Matt Renner, produced another On the third day, two field trip options were design the room exploded in laughter for how originally scheduled, but the trip to Mt Burns/ could he be serious? Yet, he maintained his Eldrig Peak was cancelled due to snow, so we all composure and carefully explained the utility of went to Dolamore Park & Croydon Bush near his folds. Sensationally satisfied, with our new Gore. Brian Rance from Southland DOC led this collection packet techniques, we were able to field trip sharing his local knowledge of the area. settle down again and think of bryophytes and A born and bred Southlander who has lived and lichens.” – Gavin White recalls this as a unique worked as a botanist in this region for 20+ years, first-timer’s experience. Brian also played a significant role in scoping out locally rich sites for our field trips. Croydon At Forest Hill most people went to the loop track Bush loop track provided beautiful specimens on the west side to hunt for lichens, liverworts, including some examples of Southland’s most mosses and other plants. Specimens collections common “non-vascular” species: were brought back to the Camp where people had practice at studying and identifying them June 2020 BSO Newsletter 90 27

Leucobryum javense covenants; in the morning we went to Milligan's, Ptycomnion acicularis –photo in the afternoon to Whyte's. Weymouthia mollis Weymouthia cochlearifolia On the fifth day we went to Dunsdale Recreation Dendrohypopterigym filiculiforme Reserve on the southern flank of the Hokonui Peltigera dolichorhiza Hills, originally set aside as a water supply Plagiochila deltoidea reserve for Invercargill. Plagiochila fasciculate On the morning of the last day we packed up and Plagiochila stephensoniana took a last opportunity for making and renewing contact with fellow botanists/ bryologists/ lichenologists from around the country.

The workshop was positively stimulating and useful to me; I am very grateful for the financial support from Otago Botanical Society that enabled me to attend. Species list from workshop available upon request.

th (Photo: Penelope Gillette) AGM and photo competition, 13 May 2020 That evening, Allison Knight gave an informative and amusing talk about lichens (of Gretchen Brownstein course) but specifically focusing on one of New Zealand’s most common lichens, On 13th May we held the first ever BSO zoom Xanthoparmelia scabrosa, also known as ‘sexy meeting for the AGM and results of the photo pavement lichen’! I believe she will be giving competition judging. And it worked pretty well! this talk to BSO in the near future, so I won’t go The AGM was over quick (as always). The into more detail. highlights included our membership numbers are looking really good, thanks in part to people wanting to vote for the People’s Choice award in the photo competition, and welcoming three new members to the committee: Matt Larcombe, Aidan Braid, and Taylor Davies-Colley.

(Photo: Angela Brandt) Zoom meeting participants (Screenshot: Peter Johnson) On day four, Jesse Bythell, QEII Southland rep. We then had a great presentation from Peter led us through two QEII National Trust Johnson sharing his and the other judges, Kelvin June 2020 BSO Newsletter 90 28

Lloyd and Rob Morris, comments and thoughts Saddle, Hokitika. Plants in the Landscape went on the photo competition entries. As always, to John Barkla for Alpine tarns. Plants and they had some lovely insights on the photos, People also went to John Barkla for Takitimu pointing out how various features in the photos camp. The People’s Choice, by a very wide worked together to bring out the story. It was margin, went to Ian Geary for Hokitika Haastia. interesting to see how a title or caption for the Peter thinks this is the first time the people photos added, or sometimes changed, the agreed with the judges. Thank you to all three interpretation of the image. We also got a wee judges for their time and efforts. If you would insight to how the judges deal with deadlocked like to see all the wonderful entries, head over votes. But onto what you really want to know: the BSO website. who won! Drum roll please. Plant Portrait went to Ian Geary for Hokitika Haastia - Bright There were 38 entries for Plant Portrait, 17 for flowers of an otherwise well camouflaged Plants in the Landscape and 7 for Plants and Haastia sinclairii var. sinclairii at Lathrop People, giving a respectable total of 62 photos.

Bright flowers of an otherwise well camouflaged Haastia sinclairii var. sinclairii at Lathrop Saddle, Hokitika (Photo: Ian Geary)

June 2020 BSO Newsletter 90 29

Alpine tarns (Photo: John Barkla)

Takitimu camp (Photo: John Barkla) June 2020 BSO Newsletter 90 30

Botanical Society of Otago Patron: Audrey Eagle

Website: http://www.bso.org.nz

Email: [email protected]

Committee 2020 Chair: Gretchen Brownstein [email protected] Vice Chair: John Barkla [email protected] Secretary: Angela Brandt [email protected] Treasurer: Mary Anne Miller [email protected] Newsletter and Website Editor: Lydia Turley [email protected] Programme: Robyn Bridges [email protected] Publications (Native plants of Dunedin): David Lyttle [email protected] Publications (Lichens): Allison Knight [email protected] University Liaison: Matt Larcombe [email protected] Student Liaison: Ian Geary [email protected] Botanical art: Sharon Jones [email protected] Committee: David Orlovich [email protected] Committee: Taylor Davies-Colley [email protected] Committee: Aidan Braid [email protected]

Please submit copy for next newsletter to Lydia Turley by 10th October 2020 This Newsletter was published on 29 May 2020. ISSN 0113-0854 (Print) ISSN 1179-9250 (Online)

Buttons for botanical pundits – still available at BSO meeting June 2020 BSO Newsletter 90 31

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BOTANY DEPARTMENT UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO

Botanical Society of Otago, PO Box 6214, North Dunedin 9059, NEW ZEALAND

Right: Corokia cotoneaster branch (Artist: Sharon Jones)